The finding, published today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, shows on average cyclists ranked as more attractive finished ahead of their less heart-breaking rivals.

Researcher Dr Erik Postma, at the University of Zurich's Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, says a comparison of the top-performing and the worst-performing riders in the 2012 Tour de France, reveals that the top 10 per cent was on average about 25 per cent more attractive.

In race performance terms, the most attractive riders finished on average 31st out of 80 while the least attractive riders finished around place 60 (out of 80).

To complete the study Postma randomly selected 80 of the 153 riders that completed the 2012 Tour, won by Englishman Bradley Wiggins.

He then created an online survey, in which participants saw a standardised portrait of the rider and were asked to rate their attractiveness on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.

Participants were also asked if they knew the rider, and if the answer was yes, that ranking was excluded.

"This is important because this way we can be sure that knowledge of how good they actually are didn't affect their perceived attractiveness," says Postma.

In total 816 people completed the survey, with 72 per cent of participants female.

To rank rider performance, Postma analysed the time it took for each rider to complete the prologue, the two individual time trials and the complete race (minus the time for the former three events).

He says the attractiveness rankings showed that even among a relatively homogenous group of males (all Caucasian, between the age of 20 and 30 years, very well trained, not overweight), some faces are consistently found to be more attractive than others.

Linking to our evolutionary past

Postma says previous studies looking at male attractiveness in humans have focused on masculinity, with the idea being that more masculine males are more attractive and have higher testosterone levels, and are therefore stronger.

"It's not unlike female deer assessing the quality of a male by looking at the size of his antlers, or to take an Australian example, fairy wren females judging a male on the basis of his plumage," he says.

Postma decided to use the riders of Le Tour to focus on endurance.

"There is good evidence that in our evolutionary past high-endurance performance may have been particularly beneficial," he says.

"It might for example have affected how long you can work on your land, and even nowadays, it might be associated with a more healthy lifestyle, resulting in fewer cardiovascular problems."

Postma admits this latter connection is pure speculation but a field he would like to examine in the future.

Interestingly, Postma says the males who also participated in the study showed strong correlation to the female rankings.

"Men are thus very well able to judge the attractiveness of other men. This ability may in fact be quite important, as it would allow men to spot potential competitors," he says.

More than good looks

The finding that more attractive men on average performed better also suggests that from an evolutionary perspective, there is more to a good partner than muscles and testosterone.

"I am by no means suggesting that it is all about attractiveness," says Postma.

"Indeed, if you would want to predict who is going to win the Tour, it might be best to look at their body mass index, which is a better predictor of their performance. "

"Similarly, there are many other variables, most of which are unknown, that contribute to attractiveness in addition to performance."

However for 2011 Tour winner, Australian Cadel Evans, it definitely is a case of good-looking guys finish first.